United Kingdom/ 4.2 Recent policy issues and debates  

4.2.10 Gender equality and cultural policies

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is concerned to ensure that all groups in society are represented on the boards of its Non Departmental Public Bodies; the Department wants to draw on the richest possible pool of talent, and considers boards function best if their members bring a variety of different perspectives, and are in touch with wider society. The DCMS tries, therefore, to attract people with different backgrounds and experience, i.e. women, members of ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, younger people, people from outside London, and people with experience of different types of organisations and industries.

The DCMS has ambitious centrally agreed targets to increase the diversity of board appointments among three groups - 50% women, 10% people from minority ethnic backgrounds and 6% disabled people. In 2005-06, of the 124 Ministerial appointments made by DCMS, 33% were women, 10% were from an ethnic minority background, and 4% had a declared disability.

In its Equality Strategy, the Scottish government sets out its commitment to promoting greater equality of opportunity for all. A key principle underpinning the development of the strategy is ensuring that equality issues are at the heart of policy making.